I want to challenge you to live in the Fire of God, to re-consecrate your life to Jesus: so that the Fire commissions you to deliver our nations. In Exodus 3, because of something in the heart of Moses, and because of the years in the wilderness, suddenly in the back of the desert, God appears to him.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of the bush, and he looked, and the bush was burned with fire and it was not consumed’ (Exodus 3:2).
What happened with Moses? This to me is the key, because Moses said in verse 3, ‘I will turn aside and see’. Oh, that you and I, will turn aside and look into the Fire. Stop what you are doing for a moment, turn aside and look into the Fire. Come on, look into the Fire. Go where the Fire is. Moses had to turn aside. The only way that God is going to make a change in his life after 80 years, the only way that God is going to deal with him, work with him, restore him, is when Moses will look straight into the fire and find God there. If you want to find Him, what you have to do is to turn aside like Moses and look into the fire and you will find Him there!
Look into the fire and get some emotion. Suddenly that spark from the fire got into Moses’s soul and God speaks to him. When the Lord saw he had turned aside, verse 4: ‘God called him out of the midst of the fire, and said “Moses”, and he replied: “here I am”’. When did you last hear God speak and you replied, “here I am Lord”? When Moses said, “here I am”, God began dealing with him. The spark from that fire got into the soul of Moses and restored his ministry - in fact began his ministry.
I want that Fire in your life and mine. I want something new from God. I want to get into the Fire where it’s hot; I want to feel the heat, the power and the glory of God.
“For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold (altar)… and placed it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven.” 2 Chronicles 6:13
This is the only time we have recorded in the Scripture that a man himself – until Christ was lifted up on the cross – puts himself on the altar – His whole life dedicated. When Solomon’s life is wholly and completely on the altar, he begins to kneel and pray one of the most wonderful prayers ever recorded in the Old Testament.
I want you to see the significance, here is a man whose dedication is so complete, whose surrender and consecration is so complete – you’ve had the praise, you’ve had the worship, you’ve had the musicians, you’ve had the glory, you’ve had visible evidence of God’s presence. Now here is Solomon on behalf of the people giving himself, sacrificing himself and laying his life upon the altar. His sacrifice is not his death – his sacrifice is his life. Here you get the first wonderful insight into the powerhouse of prayer. The sacrifice of Solomon is the prayer that he is making, the cry that he is making – can you not see in the heart of Solomon such a desire, such a powerhouse beginning in prayer – he lays himself on the altar and begins to pour out his heart to God.
Solomon spreads out his hands towards heaven and begins to pray: “O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the Heaven or in the Earth which keeps His covenant”. Today we have got so much which we can thank the Lord for, if we were to live all our lives and receive nothing else from the Lord, we should spend all our lives thanking Him for what He has already done. God has worked a miracle in our lives that He did not do in the Old Testament – God has forgiven our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! The greatest thing that God can do for a man or a woman is to forgive their sin, to bridge that gap, to give them peace and pardon – forgiveness – a place in the Kingdom. Thankfulness and worship are the beginning of consecration, for through them, we recognise that apart from Him we can do nothing, but if we abide in Him, and He in us, we will bear much fruit (John 15:5). Our fruitfulness comes because we abide and remain in Him.